In Scotland the name Gilbert was picked up and used as the anglicised/normanised form of the similar sounding Gaelic name Gillebride (various spellings) which means servant of St. Bridget. Hence the name became quite popular in Scotland.

Two famous bearers include Gilbert Godfrey, known for his tendency to voice animated avian characters, and the Marquis de Lafayette, who had a rather long name (Gilbert being the third), and sometimes went by Gilbert (pronounced zhil-BEAR).

I had never liked this name because of the way it sounded - Gill-burt, it's just so unattractive. But then I saw the French pronunciation which is BEAUTIFUL! And it has such a nice meaning, too. So name your kid this if you live in France, but not the US please.

-- Anonymous User 4/5/2008

Gilbert Markham is a character in Anne Brontë's novel 'The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.'

Gilbert is the name of the cat on the children's TV show "Calliou." He enjoys reciting odes to various things. (I know this because my brother watched it as a little kid.)

-- Anonymous User 6/24/2010

In APH Hetalia, Gilbert Beilschmidt is the personification of the Kingdom of Prussia.

-- Anonymous User 7/20/2010

I think Gilbert is quite a nice name, and also an interesting fact about this name is that Saint Gilbert of Sempringham was the founder of the Gilbertine Order of monks, one of the only orders to exist solely within Britain. Sadly, as a consequence of this, the Gilbertine Order was abolished in the 16th Century during the Protestant Reformation. Overall, I think this is a historically interesting and usable name. :-)

Pronounced the American way, I think it's not a horrid name-certainly better than something like Jayden or Logan or Mason, if you ask me. But pronounced the French way (zheel-bair) I can totally see why it was so debonair during the silent film era! (On a side note, I have a friend who was called this in French class and I still prefer to call him Gilbert than his actual name because it sounds so good in French!)

It's a really dull name. No personality. I do agree with a certain user, it is better than a horrible name like Jayden, Logan, or Mason, but it's just bland. It would be a good name for a cat, though. It'd be a great name for a cat. Sorry if I offended anybody, if your name is Gilbert that doesn't make you a bad or boring person, I just think the name is.

John Gilbert "Jack" Layton, PC (July 18, 1950 – August 22, 2011) was a Canadian social democratic politician and the Leader of the Official Opposition. He was the leader of the New Democratic Party from 2003 to 2011, and previously sat on Toronto City Council, serving at times during that period as acting mayor and deputy mayor of Toronto. He was the Member of Parliament for the constituency of Toronto—Danforth from 2004 until his death.

It's not necessarily that some people prefer the French pronunciation just because it's French (as you expressed so maturely). Some people, myself included, don't care about that. Personally, the "Gil-burt" pronunciation just does nothing for me. I heard the French version of Gilbert as a child and fell in love with the smooth sound.

That may be the case for you, but on this website there's a lot of 'Wouldn't Bradley sound so much nicer pronounced "brah-day-LEE"?' and 'I prefer pronouncing Jennifer as "zhawn-nay-FAIR"'; so don't blame me for snapping now and then!

With Gilbert, it's a frump's name pronounced the English way, and the French way sounds way too genteel and affected for any self-respecting, Anglophone child. It's like those kids that say "Don't call me David: it's dah-VEED" or "My name's not Mitchell: it's mee-SHELL". They're gonna make a lot of friends!

Gilbert was one of the many first names of the Marquis de Lafayette, a significant military figure in both the American and French revolutions, who is portrayed by Daveed Diggs in the Broadway musical Hamilton.

Gilbert is a great name and connects my thoughts to high IQ, funny and patient people. It reminds me of Gilbert Strang, a world-renowned mathematician at MIT. I am an engineer with a PhD. I never saw a professor that can teach math so clearly and funny at his level. He makes math NOT a headache to me! Check this guy's short course intro here at MIT OpenCourseWare: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNDFwVVKVk0. Read a few comments and notice the ratio of likes and dislikes and you will see how he defines the name Gilbert:)